The Blend: A West Monroe Partners Blog

Apple created a new series of healthcare application development frameworks in early 2016. The new open-source frameworks, CareKit and ResearchKit, provide a standard platform that enables developers to build medically-focused research and care apps with built-in features related to end-to-end data encryption, privacy, and standardized data sharing. CareKit allows users to track their...

In my previous blog, I discussed my take on the future and potential of artificial intelligence, analyzing my own use of an Amazon’s Alexa Voice Service technology, and dreaming up a world where artificial assistants are our closest friends, our number one source of news and entertainment, and AI supersedes existing platforms in a post-digital era.…

As recorded by the end of 2016, over 5 million of Amazon’s Echo devices have been sold in the US after being on the market for nearly two years now. If you haven’t heard of Echo, it is a smart speaker that utilizes cloud-based AI, Alexa, to answer questions from the user.…

This article will walk you through how to view records you are assigned to from child objects in a list view on the parent record. Currently the best way to view this information would be through a report, however this report would need to be customized for each user. Reports can also require multiple clicks and searches to get to the right one.…

In December Amazon made my holiday shopping as effortless as it’s ever been. In a not-so-subtle attempt to get its Alexa Voice Service technology on a smooth surface in every home around the globe, the world’s leading online retailer slashed the price of its second-generation Echo Dot to $39.99, and moved nine times more units than it had in the previous holiday season.…

Recently, I co-authored a white paper on six pillars required for successful business transformation to agile (click here to download the paper). In my mind, product management is where the rubber meets the road with being or becoming agile. It is where organizations attempt to balance customer needs, corporate strategy and technical delivery at a rapid pace.…

Internet of Things (IoT) is an ever-growing topic in any industry. New devices are being connected to the internet every day. These devices are producing millions of events every second – however collecting, analyzing, and presenting all these events can include costly infrastructure upgrades. Integrating your IoT devices into Azure, Power BI, and SharePoint can provide a cost effective...

In today’s market businesses are likely familiar with the enterprise services provided in Azure and have already started planning a cloud transition. As Azure expands its core offering and more business transition to a cloud platform, the question becomes, “how does an organization move large amounts of data to the cloud, specifically to Azure?” Introducing the Microsoft Azure Import/Export...

Matt Sondag, managing director with West Monroe, joins David Mariano, director and head of Western Reserve Partners’ Buy-Side advisory practice, on a podcast to discuss how information technology and systems help drive business value, how they might hurt business value, and what steps to take to stay current.
Key questions in this podcast episode include:
What is the importance of technology...

Having spent over a decade as a software developer, and half those years as a consultant, I’ve partnered with and been part of many different company tech divisions. One challenge I’ve seen repeatedly across disciplines and industries is that of hiring and retaining the best technical talent. One reason I work as consultant is because I know I am surrounded by the very best people.…

At a recent engagement with a large IOU (Investor Owned Utility) we guided our client through a technology evaluation and pilot deployment of a new communications system for monitoring the electrical distribution network of substations. The legacy system was deployed more than twenty years ago and was no longer supported by the manufacturer and lacked capabilities for security compliance and...

Ah, CES – the only Consumer Electronics Show that matters (i.e., the most media coverage). Our visit to CES began with a simple inquisitive question of not only what’s the next thing that will be integrated into our daily usage patterns.
Spurred by our burning curiosity, we resolved to arrive at CES on the closing weekend, only to be met with lights and displays of such ferocity that it begs...